Multi-billion-pound Latin American export opportunities for Yorkshire businesses
PAXMAN COOLERS of Huddersfield is among an increasing number of Yorkshire and the Humber businesses seeking to exploit a booming export market with Latin America forecast to reach an estimated £14.2bn by 2021.
The business, which trades in Brazil and Venezuela and is expanding into Argentina, has given its backing to a UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) initiative to enhance overseas business with those nations and other Latin American countries such as Colombia, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.
The UK currently exports goods and services worth an estimated £4.6bn to Latin America but government forecasts show that market increasing in value to £14.2bn over the next five years – thanks to key factors including political change, stabilising and liberalised economies, structural reforms, major investment in infrastructure and natural resources, trade and taxation agreements and in particular, the restoration of diplomatic ties between Cuba and the USA.
Oil and gas, mining, healthcare, education, airports, financial services, waste and water management and marine infrastructure such as shipyards and shipbuilding are among the sectors in Latin America offering trade opportunities to Yorkshire and the Humber businesses.
In the year between quarter 4 2014 and quarter 4 2015 the total value of exports to Latin America by Yorkshire and the Humber businesses rose by 22% from £104.8m to £127.8m.
Paxman Coolers, the expert in scalp cooling technology, a treatment that can prevent hair loss caused by certain chemotherapy drugs, began its journey to supply Brazil in 2009 at Medica in Düsseldorf when an introduction was made through its UKTI Life Sciences International Trade Advisor to EPTCA, the firm’s current partner in Brazil.
Having identified the region as key region for growth and supported by Medilink Yorkshire and Humber and UKTI, Paxman Coolers joined a UK delegation to Brazil in 2010, showcasing its pioneering scalp cooling device at Hospitalar, the largest medical exhibition in Latin America.
Richard Paxman, CEO of Paxman Coolers, said: “We were keen to use this platform to establish links with potential business partners, enabling us to expand on our already buoyant overseas market.
“Thanks to the valuable support of the Life Sciences team at UKTI, visits to EPTCA’s offices in Rio de Janeiro and following a lengthy regulatory process to gain ANVISA approval, cancer patients in Brazil are now able to retain their hair during chemotherapy treatment.”
Mr Paxman added that the number of scalp cooling installations throughout Brazil continues to grow and now includes the Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo. Through EPTCA, Paxman now boasts an exclusive deal with the largest private oncology clinic chain in Brazil which is rolling out scalp cooling treatment across all of its sites over the coming three years.
The firm has had a distributor in Venezuela since 2010 and continues to grow throughout Latin America having recently appointed a distributor for Argentina.
Mark Robson, regional director for UKTI Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “Latin America is a region of some 500 million people, rich in natural resources and growing middle-income opportunities that drive greater and more diverse consumption.
“British companies such as Paxman Coolers that operate successfully in these markets have a deserved reputation for delivering high-quality goods and services via strong business partnerships with local companies to their mutual advantage. The level of two-way trade and investment does not however, adequately reflect the true potential for business between the UK and Latin America so we want to encourage yet more Yorkshire and the Humber businesses to exploit what is a burgeoning market offering excellent opportunities across a wide range of sectors.”
